Quite the game today! Let’s see how our players look heading into Final.

Well, this was one of the best games I’ve ever seen – not just the gameplay, but also the contestant interviews and the way Carlos reacted when he realized he knew his True Daily Double. Marvelous.

Fist-bumps all around.

Anyway, the scores, please!

Scott Claremon: 17,400Carlos Ross: 19,600Tina Nguyen: 16,200

SUCKS that someone’s going to have to lose this game.

Carlos should go for 15,200.

Scott needs to choose. Does he wager 15,000 or more to cover Tina? Or does he cap his wager at 13,000 to stay above Carlos? (More on this in a second.)

Tina should wager at least 3,400 to cover zero wagers by the two gentlemen, and at most 11,800 to stay above Carlos if they’re both wrong.

Here’s where things can get tricky.

Let’s say Scott wants to stay above Carlos no matter what, forsaking position against Tina. He might look at Tina and say: I think she’s a rational player. She will wager no more than 11,800. If she’s right, she’ll have 28,000. Therefore, I can wager at least 10,600 to at worst tie her.

Then Tina looks at Scott’s alternate 10,600 minimum wager and says, well, if he’s wrong, he’ll have at most 6,800. To stay above him, I can wager no more than 9,400.

It’s NEVER bad to restrict your wager to take into account rational alternative plays by an opponent.

Phenomenal job, team.

The Final Jeopardy! clue for December 3, 2013:

THE INTERNET
THE INVENTOR OF THIS IMAGE FORMAT SAID THE OED WRONGLY HAS 2 PRONUNCIATIONS OF IT–THE RIGHT ONE IS WITH A SOFT “G”